Lately, the Indianapolis Colts haven’t achieved much success. They’ve missed the playoffs in each of the past four seasons. Plus, they haven’t won the AFC South since 2014. Yeah, that was a long time ago.
It has been a different story, though, for Indy’s NBA team, the Indiana Pacers. They’ve made the Eastern Conference Finals two consecutive years and are playing in the NBA Finals.
The Pacers’ management has done a phenomenal job assembling this championship-caliber team. Now, it’s time for the Colts to do the same.
The Indianapolis Colts Need to Be More Like the Indiana Pacers
Colts Must Find Their Tyrese Haliburton
Tyrese Haliburton is the main reason for the Pacers’ success. Indiana acquired him from the Sacramento Kings during the 2021-22 season. It has turned out to be one of the best trades in Pacers history.
Since arriving in the Hoosier State, Haliburton has emerged as one of the NBA’s top point guards. He has become a two-time All-Star and led the league in assists in 2024. If he sticks around in Indiana for a while, he just might replace Reggie Miller as the Pacers’ G.O.A.T.
The Colts need their Tyrese Haliburton. No, they don’t need a point guard because that would be weird. A good basketball player isn’t going to help a football team. All jokes aside, the Colts need to land an elite quarterback.
Over the last 20 years, they’ve had two elite signal-callers in Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. But they’ve never been able to replace Luck, who retired abruptly in 2019.
Anthony Richardson was supposed to be that guy. The fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft has gotten off to a disappointing start. He has struggled to stay healthy, was benched temporarily, and possesses accuracy issues. As a result, he has been mentioned in trade rumors.
However, there’s still a chance that Richardson will figure it out and become the Colts’ franchise quarterback. If he doesn’t, the team needs to move on. You can’t achieve much success in the NFL without a superstar QB.
Can Ballard Finally Get the Job Done?
Executives Kevin Pritchard and Chad Buchanan have worked together to build a great Pacers team. However, Colts general manager Chris Ballard has struggled. Jon Spradley of Stampede Blue wrote about this:
“Roster building is an art. It is an art that is easier for some markets vs others, but it takes a deft level of skill to understand what limitations are in place and to work within them to create the best overall product. The Pacers have maximized their potential in many ways; the Colts have not. This offseason has seen a different approach from Chris Ballard, so we might start seeing different results on the field. If he continues his tenure and ever feels short on inspiration, however, all Ballard has to do is look across town.”
Many people thought Ballard would be fired this offseason. Yet, he was given at least another season to fix things in Indy. He has made several good moves this spring like adding Charvarius Ward and Tyler Warren. We’ll see if he can ever transform the Colts into a relevant team like the Pacers.
Main Photo Credit: Syndication: The Indianapolis Star